Australia’s centre-left Labor Party is promising to increase staff numbers at the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and review the operations of the burgeoning scheme which currently services around 500,000 Australians.
Bill Shorten, the shadow minister for the NDIS, announced the party’s six-point-plan to change the program, which has faced issues of waste, delayed service delivery, and cost blowouts.
The measures include lifting staffing caps at the NDIS and increase hiring; review the “excessive use” of lawyers, crackdown on criminal fraud, and review consultancy contracts; and streamline decision-making on who receives payment support.
Further measures include introducing an expert review that will “guarantee” that service plans are not cut; appoint a senior officer to tackle service delivery problems in regional Australia; and increase the numbers of board members with disability.
…